Easter and Knitting Slump

It's been well over a month almost 2 since I last made an entry into my blog! Where has all the time gone? Easter was good. My mother in law and nephew were here. Jasmine and I had an Easter party with her preschool. We also did the annual Antelleum Easter Egg Hunt. She did fabulous this year. Last year she picked up about 5 eggs (with some help from MOM) but this year, she had about 2 dozen eggs! With her being older, she understands now that your suppose to pick up the eggs and put them in your Easter basket! It was a blast for us. I love spending time with her and doing fun things like that.

I've been in a slump with my knitting. I started the Kelso Lace Cardigan (a pattern purchased from Ravelry by Suzanne Frary) in the beginning of March, March 3rd? I knew it would be a slow project because of the lace. I'm always to careful with lace because I have this fear that I'm going to leave out a stitch! I always go back and count my stitches after a set of lace to make sure I have the correct amount of stitches. What I didn't realize was that this was going to be such a hard pattern. I would of never imagined that the 5" of neck shaping would give me so much trouble. After a few times of frogging what I've done, I do what I normally do! Start another project. I decided to make the little lace cardi from the April 2008 issue of Creative Knitting. Little did I know, I would have so much trouble with that too. I think my confidence was down so I was having a harder time. I had to write out the pattern because there were soooo many decreases and I was getting confused with decreases I've done! I'm happy to say that there is a happy ending to this and I actually finished it last week.

It was a great feeling to actually finish a project. With my confidence up, I decided to pick up the Kelso Lace Cardigan again. (By the way, the designer was great when I emailed her with questions about the pattern. She also had suggested using a life line). So, even though I was still unsure of if I was doing it right, I decided to proceed. I didn't want to bother the designer again. After another few rounds of frogging, it just kind of made sense what the pattern was saying! I finally get it! Wow, I put in more life lines and plunged ahead. I've made some modifications along the way but I'm almost done with the neck shaping. I'm so excited and thrilled. I just had to take a photo and post my progress. I'm glad that my perseverance is paying off. I can't wait to finish this. This is by far the hardest project I've ever done!

Snow and The Cap Sleeve Tee

On Friday, it was 70 degrees. What a beautiful day so on Saturday when hubby said that it might snow on Sunday, I was skeptical. On my way home from church, it started to snow, and at times it was so heavy I thought I was back in New York! It was very beautiful and I didn't mind driving in it since it wasn't slippery at all. I had to take a picture because snow is very rare in Georgia!

After finishing my Garter Yoke Cardigan, I was looking for an easy project to do. I wanted to make something in turquoise. I saw a beautiful top at the mall in that color and I knew my next project had to be that color. So, I used the yarn that I had bought as a valentine's day gift to myself. I had purchased this pattern last May, it's called the Capped Sleeve Tee by Sirdar. The pattern is fairly easy. It actually went quite fast until I started the neckline. For some reason, probably stress, it took a lot longer. For me stress +knitting usually = disaster. That's what happened here. I had to redo and tear out the neckline countless time. Finally, I thought I was doing it right but it wasn't. I ended up going with the rev st st instead of the garter st as the pattern indicated. I also had a really hard time trying to get the gauge. I figure I would rather have it less "clingy" but even in this size, the top is still very clingy! You can see every bump! Humph! When I thought I was finished, I tried it on. Ugh, it was horrible. The neckline was hanging off my shoulders. It was going into the ugh pile. After a day away, I thought I try to make it work. I decided to do more rev st st and do some decreases. After approx. 7 rows of decreases (with purls between the decreases), I was happy with the results. The neckline has a ruffled look to it which I think it gives it some character. One draw back is that it is form fitting and you can see every line and bump in it! I'm still very happy with the end results and I'm glad I didn't give up.

Here's a photo:

Garter Yoke Cardigan

I've started going to church at the beginning of the year. I've been talking about it for so long that when my friend, Carolyn invited me I decided to take her up on her invitation. The church is over an hour away but I don't mind the drive (especially with hubby working on Sundays). Why go to a church over an hour away? Mainly because Carolyn goes there. I've known her for a few years now. I also admired her as a person. She is not judging, kind, sincere, warm and has great family values. Everything to admire in a person. Church has turned into a good thing for me and also Jasmine. I get to enjoy hanging out with Carolyn, make new friends and at the same time get "something" out of the sermon. As an added bonus, Jasmine likes the nursery/daycare there and that's a big plus!

You may be wondering why I even brought up church. It does have to do with my Garter Yoke Cardigan. My goal was to finish my cardigan by Sunday and wear it to church. (Though people are very "dressy" at this church, I figure what could be better than wearing a sweater I made with love for myself)? I'm happy to report that I did finish my sweater last night around 9pm.

The Garter Yoke Cardigan is from the winter issue of Knit.1 magazine. It's an easy knit but I did have trouble on one part of the direction. I just wasn't sure if I was interpreting the directions right. Anyways, it was a pretty fast knit. This was also the first time I used double pointed needles to knit (the sleeves). I'm very happy with the way this sweater turned out. Here's a photo of me I've taken this morning before church and a photo of my beautiful Jasmine in her new dress!

me:

and my beautiful daughter:

Update on my lacy ruffled cardigan. I did remove the cuffs/collar and ruffles on the bottom. I also shortened the length. I like it a lot better now. I ended up giving it to my mother-in-law while she was visiting. Here's a photo of the final cardigan:

Lacy Ruffled Cardigan

Once in a while, I must admit defeat. I attempted to make the Lacy Ruffled Cardigan from the January 2009 issue of Creative Knitting. It looks cute, form fitting. I thought it might be kind of a flattering cardigan to wear on special occasions. I had been dragging my feet on this project because there was so much sewing involved! The sleeves, sides, collar, cuffs and ribbons all needed to be sewed together. I hate sewing because my seams always looks so sloppy so I had been putting it off but I finally force myself to do it. (And on a positive note, my seams looked a lot better)!



I was very excited to try it on. It was not a pretty sight! Hubby said it looked terrible! He's always so supportive of my knitting so I knew when he said it looked bad...it's bad!



If I had seen this sweater at a store, I might be tempted to try it on. The design is nice but it's just soooo unflattering on me. The cuffs are way too big and the collar is too puffy. Oh well, you can't win them all! Now, I can finally move on to my next knitting project!

Here's a photo, and no I'm not wearing it! ;) Happy Knitting!

Happy Chinese New Year and Mrs. Darcy Cardigan

Happy Chinese New Years everyone. I must admit that I'm not cooking anything special today. With hubby working such long hours, I decided we'll just do a simple dinner. Otherwise, I would of made him take me out for a great chinese dinner. Oh well, I'll have to take a rain check!

It feels so good to finish a project! I finished my Mrs. Darcy Cardigan. It's from here: http://ndieknits.wordpress.com/patterns-2/patterns/. I had to knit this because I LOVE the movie, Pride and Prejudice. It's one of my favorite. Anyways...I really enjoyed knitting this. I guess I'm kind of a simple girl. I like sweaters to knit that are simple. I like projects I can knit that relaxes me and not add more stress! I followed a fellow Raveler's modifications mostly (dharmabum), with a few modifications of my own. I didn't like how narrow the front was so I did 3 less decreases on the neck line. I also added one more button as an afterthought. I'm thrilled with how it turned out and it feels so warm! The sleeves are a bit long but honestly, I like it. It's a great sweater for a day like today ~ drizzly, 50ish degree day! (That's one of my pet chickens in the picture with me).

Happy New Year!!!!!

Ribbed Cap

I have always wanted to try the NORO yarn. I finally bought a skein with my order with the yarn I needed to finish the shalom cardigan. I received a free pattern from Vogue Knitting that require 1 skein for the ribbed cap. Perfect! I casted on a few days ago and went to knitting. Half way through, I started to wonder if I would have enough yarn to finish. My gauge is probably off, since I rarely check gauge. I decided to go the 5" instead of the 6" before starting the shaping. Following their directions, my ribbing would not line up so did some slight modifications. It's a very easy hat. I think I would of prefer to do it in the round. The fit is disappointing, too small for me. However, it fits my daughter just fine. I love how the different colors play out on the hat.

Shalom Cardigan

I didn't realize that it's been over a month since my last post! December was a very busy month. We visited our families in New York. It was a short trip but during that trip, we saw a ton of snow. I had to drive during one of the snow storm! Boy, was I nervous. It's been YEARS since I've driven in the snow, or seen that much snow no less! Thank god for 4 wheel drive! I even got stuck going up a small hill but putting in low gear on the 4 wheel drive got the car moving again. Being such a short trip, I didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time with all the family we have there.

When we got home, I came down with the dreaded stomach bug. It was a terrible way to spend my Birthday throwing up and feeling so achy, just plain lousy. By the next day (Christmas), I was feeling better! I even put up the Christmas tree.

Jasmine went back to school today, after 2 1/2 weeks off! The teachers said she had a great day. I was very excited to hear that. She truly is such a blessing! I received these photos of her today. They were taken sometime in November at her preschool. I thought the photographer did a great job.

My knitting has been on the back burner. I don't get to knit as much. Some days, I even go without knitting, which is unimaginable for me! I finally finished the Shalom Cardigan by Meghan McFarlane. It was a very, very easy knit. The yarn was a bit hard on the hands. I used a size 10 needle and 4 skeins of the Brown Sheep bulky yarn. It would of been finished sooner but I ran out of yarn. Our LYS doesn't have the bulky yarn so I was able to order it from WEBS. I'm happy to report that it arrived fairly quickly. The weather has turned cool again, so I'm happy to report that I may get some wear out of it yet!

I showed hubby my cardigan and he said "wow, that's really nice." I was thrilled that he gave me such a nice compliment! ;)

Happy New Years!